The novelty of frozen brakes

December 31, 2009

A disconcerting novelty happened to me a few weeks ago: my front
brakes froze solid. As far as I can tell, I mean that literally; not
just that they seized up, but that they seized up because they were
frozen. As you might imagine, it was more than a bit disconcerting
to squeeze the front brake lever and have it have no give at all,
especially since the front brakes are the more powerful ones where you do most of your
braking.

(This is not always the case for me, but that's another entry. Someday.)

My best theory on what happened is that in previous days some water had
worked its way onto the brake cable and into the front cable housing
(perhaps from spray thrown up by passing cars) and had not drained away.
When I took the bike out in sub-zero temperatures with significant
windchill, the water froze and locked the cable and the ferrule together. Exposing
things to warmth and working the front brakes improved the situation by
melting things a bit and breaking the binding action, although they were
not entirely better.

Ah well, winter biking can be interesting. (If it was easy and painless,
everyone would do it.)